Delhi-Agra Highway (NH2): Wide amd Signal free soon

Reliance Infrastructure’s Rs1,928 crore national highway upgrade project between Delhi and Agra has been stuck over clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for more than a year now – a development that is likely to lead to cost escalation in the project.

The 180 km project spanning Haryana and Uttar Pradesh is part of the Phase Five of the National Highways Development Programme, which envisages expansion to six-laning of 6,500 km of highway network.

The phase assumes significance as upgrade of the entire golden quadrilateral (5,846 km) to six-lane standards is a part of it.

Reliance Infrastructure bagged the project from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in May 2010. The company, however, has still not been able to start construction on the road.

The project is being developed on a build, operate and transfer (BoT), toll basis. Analysts, on conditions of anonymity, peg the cost escalation at round 10% as of now.

NHAI, meanwhile, has said that the issue will be resolved in the next one month. Explaining the matter, a NHAI official said, “The clearance involves an area where a toll plaza will be coming up. The clearances happen in two stages. In the first stage, the terms of references are approved by the Union environment ministry. In this project, the MoEF has approved the terms of references four months back.”

In the second stage, public hearing takes place. It is here that the matter is stuck for Reliance Infrastructure. “The public hearing has been completed in Uttar Pradesh. In Haryana, the hearing is scheduled for October 13. Once that is done, the report will be submitted to the MoEF,” said the official.

The company has a portfolio of 11 road projects spanning 970 km, worth Rs12,000 crore. Of these, at least seven will become operational by the end of the current financial year.

NEW DELHI: The drive to Taj Mahal through NH 2 will become faster and nearly signal-free in the next three years. NHAI plans to build flyovers or underpasses at all traffic intersections on the route, including one at Ashram Chowk in the capital, and a major private developer will start work on widening of the NH-2 between Badarpur and Agra.

These plans were unveiled during the inauguration of the 4.4km Badarpur elevated road on Monday, which is expected to reduce the Delhi-Faridabad commute time by up to 40 minutes. While the stretch had informally opened a week back, tolling began after the inauguration. The toll rates are Rs 20 for one-way drive and Rs 30 for multiple entries within 24 hours.

Transport and highways minister Kamal Nath said NHAI will soon complete a study on the Ashram-Badarpur stretch of NH-2.

The opening of the elevated road at one of the most congested crossings in the city — the Badarpur intersection — has paved the way for other crowded junctions on NH-2 in Faridabad to get a similar treatment.

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, minister of state for highways, RPN Singh, had submitted that 31 flyovers and underpasses will be constructed on the Delhi-Agra section of this national highway. Six 6-lane flyovers and another underpass, also 6-laned, will be constructed at the sector-59 crossing. ''We hope to start work on this stretch from January. We will create sufficient additional space so that regular commuters don't face any bottlenecks while the construction is carried out,'' said Sudhir Hoshing, senior vice-president of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd.

At present, these intersections witness major snarls during peak hours and also during the night when there is heavy movement of trucks on the highway. The construction of flyovers will not only ensure uninterrupted movement of traffic heading towards Agra, but will also reduce the waiting time for vehicles heading for different sectors in Faridabad. Reliance has got the NHAI project and has already achieved financial closure.

According to the reply in Parliament, all flyovers and underpasses on this 180-km stretch will be 6-lane structures, barring only one, in Agra, which will have four lanes. Once the project is completed, it will take just two hours to reach Agra from the capital as the maximum design speed on this stretch will be 100kmph. ''The opening of the Badarpur elevated road has already brought huge relief to daily commuters,'' said an NHAI official.

Reliance officials claimed that the traffic situation on this stretch will not be as bad as that witnessed on the Gurgaon-Jaipur corridor where traffic flow is much more compared to NH-2. The BOT project takes off from Delhi-Faridabad border and goes through Agra and Mathura districts in UP and Faridabad in Haryana.

Experts feel the series of flyovers will drastically change the economy of these areas. ''You'll see the skyline change. New and swanky buildings will soon come up in these areas,'' said an NHAI official